September 25, 2009

The Mets claimed right-hander Jack Egbert off waivers from the White Sox, according to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post. The 26-year-old only appeared in two games with the White Sox this year and the results weren’t pretty. He allowed one run for every out he recorded, so he has a 27.00 ERA to show for his 2.2 innings pitched.

Egbert pitched better at Triple A Charlotte, where he allowed 132 hits and 33 walks in 108 innings. He struck out 78 and finishes his minor league season with a 5.05 ERA.

Joe LeCates (Easton, MD): Matt, I saw a report the other day identifying some similarities at the plate between Thompson and Mike Stanton. While that is intriguing to say the least, Thompson is obviously much more raw. That being said, how much of a project is he going to be in terms of learning to hit advanced pitching – what is a realistic expectation for his career path?

Matthew Eddy: Trayce Thompson is that rare player who won over league managers despite not really hitting a lick. You can see the potential in his frame and with his bat speed and his grace in the outfield. But in reality, he could be facing another assignment with Bristol next year to iron out his pitch recognition.

Matthew Eddy: This isn’t a question, but it is an appropriate place to wrap things up. It’s important at this level not to get to swept up in a player’s performance, great or poor. For the young first-year players, especially, they have so much development left in front of them that what they do over the course of their first 60-70 pro games is insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

The White Sox have traded away many prospects over the last couple of years but to date none of them have come back to bite the Sox. Here I will review all of the prospects traded away by Kenny Williams in 2009 and will try to determine whether this latest crop of former prospects will come back to haunt the White Sox in the future. …

Dubee is putting up some nice numbers after he got traded to Pittsburgh for Andy Phillips.

Six-foot-4 and a bit soft-bodied, Holmberg has room to grow stronger and improve upon his present high-80s velocity. He sits at 86-88 mph and touches 90 from a straight overhand delivery, which aids him in getting good plane to the plate. Quick hand speed enables Holmberg to spin quality 12-to-6 curveballs with above-average break and depth. He mixes in a plus changeup and throws an occasional slider. His secondary stuff and precocious feel for locating his pitches and for changing speeds marks him as a future mid-rotation candidate, particularly if he adds a few ticks to his fastball.

Rodriguez features a plus-plus fastball during most outings, topping out at 97 mph and sitting at 95 with late movement. The pitch features incredible plane by virtue of his 6-foot-5 height, and Appy Leaguers struggled to lift the pitch, going homerless during his 27 innings. He throws a changeup with above-average arm speed that neutralizes righthanders. Despite his arm strength, Rodriguez still walks too many batters to rank as a surefire relief prospect, though his control improved as the season progressed. He also doesn’t have a usable breaking ball at this point, as his slider doesn’t consistently show enough tilt to be graded even as fringe-average.

I wrote down the five Sox players I would most trust in a foxhole with me. The five who have heart and guts and would battle to the end. Then I asked the same question of a few Sox personnel — players included — just to see if there was a match. Surprisingly, there were very few differences, and three players were unanimous picks. So here’s the All-Foxhole Team, as unscientifically thrown together as possible.

He isn’t very good. Ignore the numbers and his ability to play a few positions, and what you have is a player that likes to swing for the fences and look for walks. The result is a lot of ugly swings at bad pitches and a lot of looks at good ones.

Well, give me a .251/.368/.495/.863 batting line with a 89/120 BB/K ratio at $5.3M and you can swing from your ass and I couldn’t care less.